Northwestern Baseball just wrapped up a 1-2 weekend series against No. 25 USC, and it was a series that had a little bit of everything. It had blowouts (unfortunately). It had tight games decided by last minute plays. It even featured a little bit of snow out at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.
Game one was the blowout. The 'Cats never got the bats going on Friday, and boy oh boy did the Trojans. USC finished the game with 15 runs in seven innings, teeing off on Northwestern starter Ryan Weaver for a whopping 11 of those runs. Alex Grant wasn't much better in relief.
A Jack Lausch homer in the sixth got the 'Cats on the board, but the lead was already insurmountable by that point. The Trojans had an easy W on the road in game one.
Game two, the snow game, was much closer on Saturday. While many in this city flocked the streets of Chicago for St. Patrick's Day and had to deal with some snow, the 'Cats were dealing with it on the field during their day-time tilt.
Again, though, Northwestern's bats were its achilles heel. Garrett Shearer was fantastic on the bump for the Wildcats, hurling four shutout innings. Then, Jake Rifenburg and Drew Dickson pitched the rest of the way and allowed one run a piece.
The problem was, the 'Cats only finished with two total hits in the contest. Grant Govel diced them up for seven straight innings, and the bullpen was lights out. Northwestern never got on the board, and it fell 2-0 on a tough day for hitting. That'll happen in the cold sometimes.
But game three was a potential big momentum boost for the Wildcats as they embark on Big Ten play.
Again, playing baseball in March in Evanston is tough, and the conditions were far from ideal. It was a dreary Sunday, and hitting was once again a real challenge for both teams.
The 'Cats took the first lead of the ballgame in the first inning when Nick Barron, the first baseman, hit an RBI-double. Northwestern's pitching then held that lead until the eighth inning. Matthew Kouser had a good start, pitching 4.1 and allowing just one hit. He did walk seven, but he was a good escape artist.
Sam Hliboki pitched much of the remainder of the game, and his only slip up came in that eighth inning when he allowed a sac-fly to tie the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, though, Northwestern LF Logan De Groot stepped to the plate with pinch runner Jake Yang on third base and slashed a single through the left side to win the game. The 'Cats got to celebrate a walk-off, and they saved themselves from a weekend sweep vs. the Trojans.
NU is back in action next weekend in Eugene, Oregon to take on the No.21 Ducks.